AGENDA
IIOT WORLD MANUFACTURING DAYS 2024

ZJ van de Weg is the CEO of FlowFuse, the low-code development platform bringing innovation to enterprises by leveraging Node-RED. Prior to FlowFuse, ZJ played a key role at GitLab, fostering a thriving open-source community around Git. ZJ brings this expertise to FlowFuse, focusing on business growth and development while nurturing a vibrant Node-RED ecosystem.

Dr. Carlos Paiz Gatica is Product Owner in the Industrial Analytics business unit at Weidmüller, where he is responsible for the Industrial AutoML product. The development has received several awards, including the German Excellence Award. Mr. Paiz Gatica studied electrical engineering at the Instituto Tecnológico in Mexico. He then completed a master's degree in AI and robotics at Chalmers University in Sweden. He received his doctorate in electrical engineering from Bielefeld University.

John Dyck was appointed CEO of CESMII – The Smart Manufacturing Institute in June of 2018. CESMII is a public/private partnership committed to transforming the U.S. manufacturing market and increasing global competitiveness through the application of smart manufacturing technologies. John brings a highly pragmatic perspective to CESMII, and a crisp focus on outcomes that will benefit the nation’s energy and economic security by sharing existing resources and investing to accelerate development and commercial deployment of innovative smart manufacturing capabilities.

John is an execution-oriented visionary with a passion for driving the actualization of the Fourth Industrial Revolution. He’s known globally as a domain expert on both technology and business management in the nexus that often separates IT and Operations, and for the past 10 years, he has been at the vanguard of how innovations like Cloud and the Industrial Internet of Things (IIoT) impact manufacturing. He has pioneered the application of these technologies in a wide range of manufacturing industries and supply chains. John was recently awarded a number of patents for the application of IIoT and analytics in manufacturing workflows and business processes.

John was recognized by the Society of Manufacturing Engineering (SME) in 2020 as one of ‘30 Leaders Transforming Manufacturing in the USA.

Prior to joining CESMII, John held senior leadership positions in large corporations like GE and Rockwell Automation, and was effective in raising VC funding and building a successful software startup called Activplant.

John currently serves as the past Chairman of MESA International’s (Manufacturing Enterprise Solutions Association) Board of Directors. Mr. Dyck holds a degree in Electronics Engineering from Conestoga College.

Erik Mirandette leads Product and Ecosystem at Tulip, the leader in frontline operations technology spun out of MIT. He has 15+ years of experience in building and leading times in operations and product development. Today, Tulip has raised over $150M dollars in venture capital, employs 200+ people, and supports 250+ enterprise customers with operations in over 20+ countries.

Becky Morgan founded her consulting firm, Fulcrum ConsultingWorks, Inc. in 1990, following 14 years as a successful corporate operations executive.

In the subsequent 30 years, she has brought her highly valued strategic operations thinking to clients including GE, Avery-Dennison, Pentair, and Moen as well as numerous lower-profile companies. Becky has contributed to the success of manufacturers in a broad spectrum of operational environments: Process, discrete, and job shops. B2B and B2C. Chemicals, metals, plastics, rubber, electronics, ceramics, assembly and more.

In addition to her books and hundreds of published articles, Becky’s expertise has been tapped by The Wall Street Journal, Fortune, Business Week, Wired and more.

Holding multiple Economics degrees, she is certified as Fellow by ASCM and was awarded Lifetime member status by the Association of Manufacturing Excellence. In 2017 she was inducted into the Million Dollar Consulting Hall of Fame®, one of only 75 consultants world-wide so chosen.

While accomplishing all that, Becky always makes time for sports, motorcycle riding, and world-wide travel. She has experienced more airplane take-offs than landings. Think about that.

John Harrington is the Chief Product Officer of HighByte, focused on product management, customer and partner success, and company strategy. His areas of responsibility include market research, customer use cases, product priorities, go-to-market, and financial planning.

John is passionate about delivering technology that improves productivity and safety in manufacturing and industrial environments. He has spent his 25-year career both delivering software to manufacturers and working for manufacturers in operations roles. This experience has given him a unique perspective on how suppliers and end users each play an integral role in implementing new technology solutions.

John has a Master of Business Administration from Babson College and a Bachelor of Science in Mechanical Engineering from Worcester Polytechnic Institute.

Experienced Information Technology Engineer with a demonstrated history of working in the industrial automation industry.

Specializing in IT/OT Convergence and architecting production systems with secure integration to business networks.

Skilled in Allen-Bradley, Rockwell, Ignition, VMware, HP Products, VEEAM, Wonderware, and Cisco Systems.

Strong operations professional with a Bachelor's degree focused in Mechanical Engineering from University of Minnesota-Twin Cities.

Ravi is a product marketing and management leader with extensive experience delivering high-quality products and services that have generated revenues and cost savings of over $10B for companies such as Motorola, GE, Bosch, Weir and Parker Hannifin. His expertise spans industries such as Mining, O&G, Industrial Automation, Automotive, Mobile Devices, Enterprise communications, Automotive, Fleet Management and Industrial Motion Management. He is an expert in Industrial IoT, Industry 4.0, Data Analytics, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Big Data, Data Security, Cloud Platforms, SaaS/PaaS, and Agile Methodologies. At HiveMQ, Ravi is in charge of evangelizing, enabling sales of the HiveMQ solution amongst Manufacturing, Energy, Logistics and Industrial Automation customers. Ravi has presented at many events in person and virtually over the past 2 years including Hannover Messe, SPS, ICC, IIOT world, Smart Manyfacturing, Sensor Converge, ITS European World Congress and others.

Ernest brings over a decade of experience in Information Technology and Broadcast Engineering, supporting some of the largest media companies in the world including CNN, Turner, and Fox. Ernest has always been passionate about learning and writing, earning a master’s degree in Networking and Telecom Management. As a Technical Content Manager at EMQ, Ernest is focused on knowledge sharing and best practices for MQTT and IoT.

Hamish Mackenzie is the valuable difference champion.

Author, facilitator, advisor and coach, he helps international technology businesses identify new customer value and monetize it.

Working with business owners, CEOs and their senior executive teams, Hamish has over a decade’s worth of stunningly successful projects for startups, SMEs and large corporates across Europe, the US and Japan under his belt.

Balaji Palani is InfluxData’s Vice President of Product Marketing, overseeing the company’s product messaging and technical marketing. Balaji has an extensive background in monitoring, observability and developer technologies and bringing them to market. He previously served as InfluxData’s Senior Director of Product Management, and before that, held Product Management and Engineering positions at BMC, HP, and Mercury.

Having a background in software and experience in automation sales has brought me to my most current role at Applied Industrial Technologies as the Market Development Manager for IIoT products. As a large distribution company that has strictly sold hardware for 100 years, competition has steadily increased and so has customers interest to collect data from the equipment that we sell. I’ve spent the last year and a half learning all about IIoT industry trends, evaluating different hardware and software offerings, understanding customer preferences, and helping train our sales teams on new products/strategies.

Starting my career in software development and my passion for automation quickly led me to inray to enhance the already existing qualities of the OPC Router. First as a developer, and now as the leader of the software development teams working on the OPC Router. Contributing to communication standard working groups and working with many industrial customers has given me a wide range of experience in the field.
With OPC Router's 20-year history in industrial automation, inray has accompanied many successful digitalization and Industry 4.0 efforts. Through its global partner network, OPC Router enables users worldwide to achieve their individual goals.

Jane Arnold is a seasoned industry executive with over three decades of experience in chemical, discrete, and additive manufacturing. As a digital leader in Industry 4.0, she is dedicated to enhancing the impact of manufacturing through the adoption of cutting-edge technologies. Throughout her career, Jane has held executive positions at Stanley Black and Decker and Covestro, where she was responsible for spearheading digital transformations. Jane has her own advisory business and serves as a board member. Most recently Jane joined Aperio as Chief Customer Officer where they are focused on the industrial data quality problem.

Arlen Nipper brings over 40 years of experience in the SCADA industry to Cirrus Link as President and CTO. He was one of the early architects of pervasive computing and the Internet of Things and co-invented MQTT, a publish-subscribe network protocol that has become the dominant messaging standard in IoT. He has worked for Amoco and Koch Oil, and served as President and CTO of Arcom Control Systems and Eurotech Inc. His experience covers a broad range of technology from the design and manufacturing of embedded systems to SCADA system infrastructure implementations. Arlen holds a bachelor’s degree in Electrical and Electronics Engineering (BSEE) from Oklahoma State University.

Mike Tomasco served as Vice President in Pfizer Digital, overseeing the digital transformation of Pfizer Global Supply (PGS), the vital manufacturing and supply operations arm of the pharmaceutical giant. With a rich background spanning over 4.5 years in this pivotal role, he adeptly harnessed his expertise in digital technology, artificial intelligence, operational excellence, and continuous improvement to revolutionize the end-to-end processes and performance of PGS.

Prior to assuming this critical position, Mike held influential leadership roles in strategy and digital transformation, finance, and business technology at Pfizer. During his tenure, he spearheaded numerous groundbreaking initiatives that significantly augmented the business value and operational efficiency of the organization. Drawing from his extensive experience in strategy, marketing, finance, manufacturing, and information systems, Mike has consistently delivered exceptional results, having also served in key capacities within multinational corporations across diverse sectors.

His overarching mission is to propel innovation and foster a culture of excellence within an organization, driven by the transformative power of digitization and data-driven insights.

Cobus van Heerden is a senior product manager for analytics and machine learning software for GE Vernova. Cobus has 20 years of experience in developing and implementing industrial software globally. He specializes in helping industrial organizations realize transformational productivity gains through applying digital technology, advanced analytics, and machine learning.

Tim is the Leader of the Deloitte Smart Manufacturing Business and brings more than 25 years of supply chain experience with a focus on value chain optimization using emerging technology. He has led multiple supply chain transformations, spanning supply chain strategy, manufacturing optimization, supply chain planning, inventory optimization, operating model design, and operational excellence for domestic and multinational corporations. He has been hands on creating the “Factory of the Future” for his clients using IOT, converging the IT/OT space, and harnessing edge to cloud to drive real time insights. Tim previously led Deloitte’s US Supply Chain Retail and Consumer product practice.

Prior to joining Deloitte, Tim grew up in the manufacturing space including programming industrial controls for high speed manufacturing, leading large scale engineering programs, and running 24/7 operations for a production facility with over 50 production lines. He earned his B.S. in Chemical Engineering from the University of Rochester and his MBA from Kellogg School of Management at Northwestern University.

Hamish Mackenzie is the valuable difference champion.

Author, facilitator, advisor and coach, he helps international technology businesses identify new customer value and monetize it.

Working with business owners, CEOs and their senior executive teams, Hamish has over a decade’s worth of stunningly successful projects for startups, SMEs and large corporates across Europe, the US and Japan under his belt.

Megan Samford, VP, Chief Product Security Officer for Energy Management at Schneider Electric, is a security executive with focus on industrial control systems security, critical infrastructure protection, and risk analysis. In her role at Schneider Electric, Megan is responsible for driving the product security strategy and program for Schneider Electric’s Energy Management business. In taking her role at Schneider Electric, Megan became the first female CPSO for a major industrial without first being a CISO, this has been recognized as a huge achievement for women in industrial control systems security.

Prior to Schneider Electric, Megan was the Global Director of Product Safety and Security for Rockwell Automation, Product Security Leader for GE Global Research and lead for the GE Product Security Incident Response Team. While in working in the public sector, she served as the Commonwealth of Virginia’s Critical Infrastructure Protection Coordinator within the Governor’s Offices of Tim Kaine and Bob McDonnell.

Megan brings a unique perspective to the security community, based on her diverse security background, with an interest in utilizing proven concepts from traditional critical infrastructure protection and emergency management foundations, such as Incident Command System and preparedness, and applying those to cyber, in particular for industrial control systems incident response. She is currently leading a community driven effort, known as Incident Command System for Industrial Control Systems (ICS4ICS,) which seeks to establish a common language for responding to cyber incidents and provide avenues for mutual assistance between organizations.

Megan has served on numerous boards including Virginia Commonwealth University’s School of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), Security Analysis and Risk Management Association (SARMA) Department of Homeland Security’s Cyber and Infrastructure Security Working Group (CISWG), Trusted Computing Group (TCG), and Virginia Aviation Security Advisory Council (VASAC). She is also a returning 2020 Program Chair for the RSA Conference, “Secure All The Things” track.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in homeland security and emergency preparedness as well as a master’s in public administration, both from Virginia Commonwealth University.

Ellen leads the go to market strategy for Keyfactor's IoT business focusing around digital identity security solutions for the IoT device manufacturer market. Ellen is passionate about IoT and helping customers establish strong security implementations for the lifecycle of their overall IoT systems.

Ellen has 17+ years experience leading new product development with a focus on IoT and connected products in Lighting controls, Smart Cities, Connected buildings and Smart Home technology. Ellen has held leadership roles in Product & Engineering at General Electric and Sky Technologies over her career.

Eric Byres is widely recognized as one of the world’s top experts in the field of SCADA security. As the inventor of the Tofino Security technology, Eric and his partner Joann guided the product through its evolution from academic research project and startup to successful acquisition by Belden Inc (NYSE: BDC). Tofino received numerous industry awards and was licensed by industry giants such as Honeywell, Schneider Electric and Caterpillar. Today it is probably the most widely deployed ICS-specific firewall in the world.

Eric is also known for his leadership in international standards and research for ICS/SCADA security. As the founder of the BCIT Critical Infrastructure Security Centre, he shaped it into one of North America’s leading academic facilities in ICS security, culminating in a SANS Institute Security Leadership Award in 2006. At the same time, he provided guidance to government security agencies, and major energy companies on protection for critical infrastructures. He was the chair of the ISA SP-99 Security Technologies Working Group, and the Canadian representative for the IEC TC65/WG10 standards effort.

Some of Eric’s achievements include testifying to the US Congress on the “Security of Industrial Control Systems in National Critical Infrastructures” as well as receiving awards from international organizations. These include the IEEE Outstanding Industry Applications Article Prize in 2000, the 2004 “Donald P. Eckman Award” and the 2005 “Keith Otto Award” presented by the International Society of Automation (ISA). Eric was made an ISA Fellow in 2009 and given ISA’s highest honor, “Excellence in Leadership”, in 2013. Eric was also the inventor of the Achilles Test Platform (now owned by GE) and was the founder of Byres Research Inc. and Artemis Systems Engineering. Today Eric provides technology and market guidance to companies entering the ICS market, as well as policy guidance for companies involved in the operation of critical infrastructures.

Patrick Miller (CISA, CRISC, CISSP-ISSAP, SSCP, CEH, NSA-IAM, CVI) has dedicated his career to the protection and defense of critical infrastructures as a trusted independent advisor.

He is CEO at Ampyx Cyber, as well as the founder, director and president emeritus of EnergySec, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization focusing on information sharing, situational awareness and security workforce development.

Patrick’s diverse background includes positions with regulatory agencies, private consulting firms and utility asset owners within the Energy, Telecommunications and Financial Services verticals.

With over 20 years of industrial automation experience, Trent Christopher is a highly accomplished System Architecture Engineer renowned for his innovative solutions. His expertise lies in designing and implementing cutting-edge systems that elevate productivity and efficiency to new heights. Driven by a deep passion for technology, Trent remains at the forefront of industry trends, constantly refining his skills to deliver unparalleled excellence in his field.

With over 17 years of experience in automotive production engineering at Toyota, Nick Alexander has a reputation for strategic leadership in project execution and new technology development. He creates actionable narratives in complex problem spaces, initiating support to make big changes where there is real value to be captured. He started his career in process deployment, eventually leading large scale equipment changeovers of manufacturing lines to build advanced vehicle structures. For the past 4 years he has served as the leader of new technology equipment projects. He has functioned as a bridge between the technical teams that develop the solutions, and the operations teams that will eventually run and sustain them. He is passionate about harnessing the power of teams with a diversity of perspectives to solve the industry’s most challenging problems in ways that increase happiness for team members and customers.

Helen Xing is an unstoppable force at the intersection of education, technology, and social impact. With expertise in business development, strategic alliances, and partner sales, she propels companies towards their revenue targets. Currently, she leads Data and AI Partner GTM at AWS for Americas. Helen started her journey at Merck, followed by 15-year tenure at Oracle, culminating as Senior Director of Partner Solutions in NA Sales. At Tableau, she pioneered the Government & Education partner ecosystem. Beyond business, Helen is at the forefront of Data for Good, fostering public-private partnerships to support veterans, champion diversity, equity, inclusion, and social welfare. Helen serves as the Chairwoman of the board of Nelly Berman Classical Musical Institute, and holds an MBA degree from the Wharton School at University of Pennsylvania.

Hamish Mackenzie is the valuable difference champion.

Author, facilitator, advisor and coach, he helps international technology businesses identify new customer value and monetize it.

Working with business owners, CEOs and their senior executive teams, Hamish has over a decade’s worth of stunningly successful projects for startups, SMEs and large corporates across Europe, the US and Japan under his belt.

Rich Springer is the Marketing Director of OT Solutions at Fortinet. In this role, Rich works alongside regional marketing teams, OT product management and OT threat researchers to promote the Fortinet Fabric of OT Solutions including network security, zero-trust, security operations and AI-powered threat intelligence for IT/OT converged and OT market segments. Previously, Rich was the Head of Industrial Cyber Strategy & Development for Tripwire managing the Industrial cyber product business for Belden, including the Hirschmann and Tripwire product lines. While evolving in the business of cyber security software and hardware development, Rich provides an operational background as a prior global head of SCADA in wind energy and across various roles in the semiconductor industry and the submarine nuclear Navy. He has a BS in Mechanical Engineering from Oregon State University and resides in Portland, Oregon. Rich is excited to lead, educate, and develop network and cyber security solutions for his customers and global cyber community.

1898 & Co. is a business, technology and security solutions consultancy where experience and foresight come together to unlock lasting advancements. We understand that robust solutions need to work in the real world, not just exist on the drawing board. Our mission today is to fuel your future growth, catalyzing insights that drive smarter decisions, improve performance and maximize value. As part of Burns & McDonnell, we draw on more than 120 years of deep and broad experience in complex industries as we envision and enable the future for our clients.

In my role, I am leveraging over 15 years of leadership and management experience within national security and intelligence community sectors of the U.S. government to engage and deliver industrial control and operational technology cybersecurity solutions and services tailored for critical infrastructure sectors to help them be more secure and resilient to our Nation's most dangerous cyber threats. I lead engagement with executive-level clients to deliver 1898 & Co.’s unique cybersecurity solutions and services suit our customers' needs.

Larry Alls, OT Cybersecurity Evangelist for HCLTech, is a detail-oriented and results-driven IT/OT professional with strong strategic thinking with the ability to quickly adapt to new projects and challenges. He brings nearly 30 years of experience to the table in both information technology (IT) and operational technology (OT) and is passionate about protecting multiple industries' OT and the Internet of Things (IoT). Larry’s diverse experience includes support for worldwide energy, transportation, medical, aviation, pharmaceutical, and manufacturing. He has proven his ability to carry out research for the development, design and testing on machines and devices utilized at engineering sites. He is a skilled professional and an experienced negotiator who understands the intricacies of communication between technical and business personnel.
Some of Larry’s accomplishments include:

• Pioneer of new cyber solutions within major automation vendors, working with engineering and product management to develop a new solution suite based on voice of the customer.
• Member of International Society of Automation (ISA).
• Member of Industrial Control Systems Joint Working Group (ICSJWG).
• Manage and technical lead for site upgrades which included Emerson, GE, and Toshiba infrastructure.
• Audit evidence/documentation preparation for readiness assessments and inspections.
• Member of top-notch security team of worldwide provider of diversified technology, media and financial services to ensure continuous support of cyber security initiatives.
• Design customer specific network configurations to ensure highest security footprint to meet. NERC CIP and NEI requirements which includes but is not limited to; firewall rules, switch configurations, network intrusion design, and DMZ creation.

Rob Putman, based in Zurich, Switzerland, is currently a Global Manager - Cyber Security Services at ABB Process Automation. Rob Putman holds a MBA @ University of Redlands. With a robust skill set that includes Product Management, SDLC, Cloud Computing, Enterprise Software, Agile Methodologies and more, Rob Putman contributes valuable insights to the industry.

Currently, Eric Thompson occupies the distinguished role of Director of IoT & AI solutions at IRISS. With a robust foundation in CCaaS, IoT, Generative AI, and Cloud technologies, Eric is a globally recognized trusted advisor. His ten-year tenure encapsulates extensive leadership in business strategy, innovation, and transformative initiatives on a grand scale within multifaceted environments. Eric's expertise is marked by a consistent track record across the entire spectrum of customer success, encompassing pre-sales, onboarding, adoption, and growth phases.

Throughout his illustrious career, Eric has effectively collaborated with a diverse range of organizations, from nimble startups to Fortune 100 powerhouses, particularly within the CCaaS, IoT, IIoT, and Generative AI sectors. His notable tenure at the industrial and technology conglomerate Bosch stands out as a significant highlight. Here, Eric played a pivotal role in transitioning global teams' legacy applications into the cutting-edge Bosch IoT ecosystem, thereby unlocking new avenues for revenue generation. In the formative years of his career, Eric dedicated his expertise to developing IoT solutions alongside various vendors and clients, offering strategic consultation on crafting market-ready solutions that adhere to industry best practices.

Mike Ungar is a FocalPoint Business Coach and Executive Coach helping business leaders improve their profitability and achieve their personal and professional goals. Mike is also CEO and Co-founder of the Industry 4.0 Club whose purpose is to engage the power of diverse worldwide talent to accelerate the global evolution to Industry 4.0.

After graduating from the United States Military Academy, he served as an Infantry Officer in the United States Army. Upon completion of his military service, Mike joined Michelin North America. In his 35 years at Michelin, Mike coached teams from all areas of business (manufacturing, research and development, sales and marketing, and support services) as well as in a variety of countries and cultures (France, Germany, Romania, Northern Ireland, Brazil, Mexico, Canada, and the United States). He led teams in manufacturing, continuous improvement, and personnel. Mike has leveraged his coaching experience with Lean techniques to develop sustained continuous improvement culture through the engagement of people.

In addition to his work as a FocalPoint Business Coach, Mike is a certified CESMII Smart Manufacturing Roadmap Professional. He is on the Board of the Upstate Veteran’s Business Network and helps Veterans Transitioning to Civilian life. Mike is also a member of the Workplace Advisory Council to the Tanenbaum Center for Interreligious Understanding. Mike frequently speaks at manufacturing events.

Scott Wyant is a Senior Manufacturing Systems Engineer at Swagelok, a leading provider of fluid system solutions. Working from Solon, Ohio, he provides deep technical expertise in many areas, including operational technology, system architecture, integration, software development, dev-ops, and SCADA & MES.

Prior to his focus on Digital Manufacturing Systems, Scott held roles in various functional areas including Applications, Quality, and, most recently, Manufacturing Engineering, where he focused on CNC machining of stainless steel valve bodies. He started his journey at Swagelok in 2010, quickly advancing through these roles that set the foundation for his valuable insight and solutions to real-world challenges.

Scott's career reflects a deep commitment to continuous improvement and technological advancement in manufacturing systems.

Manpreet is currently the CTO at Nanoprecise Sci Corp. Nanoprecise is a leader in the Industrial IOT domain with a focus on energy centered maintenance and condition monitoring. He heads the hardware, software and data science teams at Nanoprecise. He has led product and technology roles in the past and has been an entrepreneur in the technology space. He is passionate about technology and AI and brings a depth of understanding and implementation of AI algorithms to create business value.

I bring a passion for improving the lives of manufacturing workers and those that support manufacturing environments. Following years working in advanced manufacturing with Goodyear, I earned my Masters Degree in Architecture with a focus on human-centered design. I returned to industry in 2017 to take the helm at BennitAI and shape its mission to connect people to solve manufacturing problems. I sit on the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors at CESMII, the US' national institute on Smart Manufacturing, and live in northeast Ohio with my husband, Ryan, and our children.

Paul Didier is an Solutions Architect Manager for Cisco® System’s Industries Product Group (IPG). He is responsible for developing solutions for the Discrete and Process Manufacturing, Transportation and Utilities verticals including Automotive, Oil & Gas, Mining and other sub-verticals.

Paul represents Cisco at the Open Device Vendor Association’s (ODVA) Technical Review Board, the OPC Foundation, the AVnu Alliance and the Industrial Internet Consortium (IIC). He has over 25 years of industry experience.

Paul authored the Cisco and Rockwell Automation Converged Plant-wide Ethernet (CPwE) Design and Implementation guide, a Cisco Validated Design (CVD). Paul works extensively with key Automation and Control partners such as BoschRexroth, Rockwell Automation, National Instruments, Honeywell, Emerson, Yokogawa, Schneider Electric and General Electric.

Prior to joining Cisco, Paul was an IT Infrastructure expert at Accenture for 16 years and an IT Manager for SAP for 2 years. He has extensive experience working for Manufacturing, Retail and Financial Services clients. He has developed and deployed large enterprise IT applications on a global scale.

Working with clients over the past 15+ years in various industries including Healthcare, Retail, Mining, Rail, and Manufacturing has allowed Tim to build insights and approaches that are focused on the client’s business outcomes that are enabled through technology.

Tim began his career as a Network Engineer and consultant before joining Cisco where he developed his career in several positions including Systems Engineer, Solutions Architect, Business Architect, and Business Development Manager.

Customer engagements are typically oriented towards digital transformation aligned with internal strategies that benefit and impact industry presence and consumer brands. In his current role as an Industry Advisor with WWT, Tim is deeply engaged with global manufacturing clients at both the business and technology level helping to drive profitable outcomes meeting disciplined objectives.

Andrea is a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and advisor with a solid track record in funding, leading, and growing start-up companies from cradle to multi-million dollar strategic acquisitions.
Born in Lake of Como Italy, he is a competitive dinghy sailor who loves entrepreneurship and technology. He applies the same unruffled decision-making and determination needed to win a regatta to succeed in business.

Experienced technical executive, over the last two decades Andrea has been involved in developing operations, sales, marketing, and financial strategies in start-up environments with special focus on accelerating the adoption of wireless networks technologies to boost digitalization for a sustainable future in the industrial IoT world leveraging strong partnership between IT and OT.

Andrea co-founded Fluidmesh Networks, an MIT and Politecnico of Milan spin-off, that develops innovative wireless technology that is a critical enabler of the "Internet of Things." At Fluidmesh we manufacture radios and focus on delivering connectivity solutions in some of the most challenging environments in the world. Fluidmesh Networks is a critical element in the adoption of automation in industries such as security, entertainment, mining, rail, ports and terminal operations, material handling, robotics, and the military. Fluidmesh' technology is used by government agencies, Fortune 500 companies and global conglomerates to maintain cutting edge operations and a competitive advantage. Connecting people and things: it's what we do.

Andrea also spun-off a cloud-based venture called Pantascene a video and sensor interoperability application and investigative tool focused on improving situational awareness and emergency preparedness for the public safety market and sold the business to the Hitachi Group in September 2014, after 18 months from incorporation.

Dino is the CS Technical Manager at E80 Group Inc., specializing in Customer Service for LGV systems and supporting system-wide cybersecurity initiatives. Starting as a field technician & lead and progressing through roles in helpdesk management and technical network administration, Dino now leads initiatives to deploy OT focused designs for new sites and ensures compatibility with existing sites spanning decades of operation. A graduate of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign with a Bachelor of Science in General Engineering, Dino combines deep technical expertise with strategic leadership to drive innovative security solutions in the automation sector.

Kevin Wood leads the network architecture team supporting industrial customers at Cisco. He has over two decades of industry experience in global manufacturing, retail, and information technology and worked as a Cisco customer, partner, and architect. Kevin holds a Bachelor of Information Systems & Computer Science from Radford University and a Masters in Enterprise Architecture and Business transformation from The Pennsylvania State University.

Nikki has extensive experience in industrial automation and supply chain optimization, with a rich career that includes roles at Keyence, Festo, and Algo. At Algo she was a key figure in promoting and implementing Algo’s omnichannel supply chain intelligence solutions. Algo combines advanced technology with operational expertise to enhance the digital transformation journey for enterprises. Nikki’s efforts at Algo were focused on facilitating the adoption of novel solutions including applied Machine Learning and AI to improve supply chain agility and optimize forecasting for better sales & operations planning.

Currently leading partnerships at Quotebeam, Nikki is instrumental in evolving a procurement platform for industrial automation parts, which enhances ecommerce and collaboration for industrial distributors. Her advisory role at UpTime Intelligence underscores her commitment to IIoT, focusing on solutions that offer predictive maintenance and energy savings.

As a co-host of the Automation Ladies podcast, Nikki breaks down the complexities of smart manufacturing and IIoT, making these topics accessible and engaging. Her knowledge spans vital technologies like edge computing, AI, and ML, leveraging these to provide actionable insights and advocate for sustainable manufacturing practices.

Her background as a field sales engineer, combined with her strategic insights into IIoT and supply chain optimization, makes Nikki a knowledgeable voice in discussions on improving supply chain visibility and efficiency. Her passion for customer experience and her unique ability to communicate complex ideas clearly are hallmarks of her professional style.

Angela Thurman holds a BS in Electrical Engineering, MS in Telecommunications Management, and is a certified Project Management Professional ™. She recently served for more than ten (10) years as a Subcontracts Program Manager at Collins Aerospace, managing complex third-party products for their large OEM customers such as Boeing and Airbus. While at Collins she was recognized as a Subject Matter Expert (SME) in Lean Manufacturing, Continuous Improvement, and Supplier Management.

Since leaving Collins in late 2020, Ms. Thurman has launched Thurman Co., LLC, a technical project management consulting firm in Houston, TX. Thurman Co. provides its clients with customized project management solutions. She is also a Board Member for the Texas Chapter of Women in Manufacturing.

Adhish Luitel, Principal Analyst at ABI Research, provides global supply chain management research coverage, including on warehousing, logistics, retail technologies, and multi-modal service models. He leads research on emerging areas, such as mobile and collaborative robotics, wearable technologies, material handling automation, digitization, and Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS).

Prior to joining ABI Research, Adhish worked as a Gas Markets Analyst at RBAC. He has more than 4 years of experience creating data regression models, using predictive data modeling, crafting data mining algorithms, and delivering insights and action-oriented solutions to complex business problems.

Adhish earned his MSc degree in Quantitative Economics and Econometrics from the University of Texas at Austin.

Nicole Ballantyne is a chartered Mechanical Engineer, and a Fellow of the Institute of Mechanical Engineers with 3 decades of industry experience in the manufacturing sector, and in innovation support. In her current role, Nicole was taken on as employee 12 at MESTEC – a high growth, innovative Manufacturing Execution Software company – helping manufacturers embrace digital transformation through facilitating the provision of the right data, at the right place, at the right time, to make great management decisions. Just a year later, the company now employs more than 35 staff, and specifically managing customer success, and partnerships is the current challenge that Nicole is wrestling with.

Nicole started her career as an engineering sponsored student with Metalbox – a 15yr career that led to exciting manufacturing leadership roles throughout Europe, in World Class Manufacturing, and ERP Implementation Management. Subsequent varied management roles in an SME corrosions coatings manufacturer, and in the support sector have seen Nicole develop and collaborate in technology & innovation strategies in a whole variety of companies in a plethora of sectors. She holds a M.Sc. from Cranfield, and a B.Eng.(hons) in Mechanical Engineering from Imperial College.